Major Nelson “clarifies” Xbox One Used Games Decable

The prevalent talking point since Xbox One was unveiled on Tuesday has been about used games. The message hasn’t been clear and potential buyers are quickly being turned off the idea of a next generation Xbox, because of this.

Firstly, a report from Wired told of how users would be required to install all games to the hard drive – subsequently linking them to an account and thus, any other account that tries to access that content would have to pay a fee to do so. Then, XboxSupport on Twitter informed concerned fans that there would be “no fee”.

In the middle of this fiasco, Phil Harrison told Kotaku that he “believes” Xbox One consoles would be required to connect to the Internet at least once every 24 hours. Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

With conflicting reports doing the rounds, Microsoft told Polygon that the used games and Internet connectivity talk were all just “potential scenarios”. The plot thickens, further. An official Q&A on Microsoft’s site confirmed the fact that the company is “designing Xbox One to enable customers to trade in and resell games. We’ll have more details to share later.”

Some publications were reporting that used games fees would be in-effect and the user would be required to pay full price – so, basically, they would be just buying the game. If you want to go around to your friends’ house and show them your copy of the latest Halo, you would have to log in to your account to play it. Hmmm…

THEN, MCV reported that Microsoft and publishers would receive a percentage of Xbox One used games sales at retail. Apparently, you will only be able to trade in your unwanted software at participating stores that have agreed to Microsoft’s terms & conditions agreement. Once in the hands of the shop clerk, it will be added to their system and Microsoft’s cloud and wiped from your Xbox Live account.

ConsoleDeals.co.uk has reported that second hand fees may cost the general public up to £35. That amount hasn’t been confirmed and will also be the only cost to the purchaser. At least that’s what Eurogamer were told by their sources. The end-game could see the retailer ending up with very little of the profits from the sale.

Everyone has been left scratching their heads, all the while Microsoft aren’t clarifying anything. The latest peep from them comes by way of Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, who recently posted this on his blog:

“Over the past few days, we have been reading comments and message boards following the Xbox One announcement. There are a few questions regarding used games. I wanted to clarify and provide this official statement:

The ability to trade in and resell games is important to gamers and to Xbox. Xbox One is designed to support the trade in and resale of games. Reports about our policies for trade in and resale are inaccurate and incomplete. We will disclose more information in the near future.”

The definition of “clarify” is being stretched, there. This has been an absolute disaster for the company. With press and potential customers only wanting REAL answers, they’re dodging every question.

They need to release another official statement pretty soon, and one that genuinely contains a clarification, this time.